The Stanford Daily: KUSF Sale May Undermine KZSU

KZSU programming may no longer be able to reach listeners in the North Bay communities as new owners of KUSF plan to relocate a transmitter serving that area. USC bought KUSF for $3.75 million in January. (Photo by Jin Zhu/The Stanford Daily)

Radio signals may be fuzzy for the Cardinal in the North Bay, where new ownership of the University of San Francisco radio station, KUSF, will move the transmitter to a high altitude location in the North Bay and significantly limit Stanford’s range of radio listeners.

“Essentially what’s going to happen is that a lot of our coverage in the East Bay and what we get in San Francisco is going to be cut off,” said J.D. Haddon ‘13, KZSU’s sports director. “We are losing a community.”

According to KZSU (Stanford) publicity director Adam Pearson ‘11, the concession of the KUSF radio signal to the Classical Public Radio Network (CPRN) in January for $3.75 million occurred behind closed doors between board members at USF and CPRN. The deal was also made without the knowledge of those in charge of the radio station’s day-to-day operations, Pearson said.

“This is an outrage not only to students who can no longer have the access to a radio station on campus and learn about broadcasting or music, but it’s more importantly an assault on the San Francisco community, which has come to appreciate and depend on the public radio services that KUSF provides,” Pearson said, adding that the price paid for KUSF is a nominal amount for the benefits it provides to the San Francisco community on a year-to-year basis.

CPRN, a corporation owned by the University of Southern California (USC) and Colorado Public Radio, purchased KUSF’s radio signal in order to spread access to classical music. But KZSU business manager Abra Jeffers, a graduate student in management science and engineering, believes there is more to the story.